China’s Mid-Cap Companies Thriving On Big Pharma Deals
Big pharma is increasingly looking east to restock its pipelines, a process that is helping to forge a new generation of mid-sized R&D-based companies in China and is reflected in their stock price performance.
A new wave of mid-sized biopharma companies is being created in China, driven on by in-house R&D and big pharma licensing deals.
That is the picture emerging from data captured by Evaluate Pharma and analyzed by Scrip, which shows that China-headquartered companies represented five of the top ten mid-cap companies with the fastest rising share prices in the first half of 2025.
This mirrors a very similar trend in the period with small-cap Chinese companies (covered here) and illustrates the growing maturity of the country’s low-cost, high-quality R&D engines, and their attractiveness to big pharma firms looking for new molecules to restock their pipelines.
The numbers behind that dealmaking trend are remarkable: a July 14 investor note from Jefferies stated that 32% of licensing agreements (by deal value) came from China in 1H25, compared with 21% in 2023/24 and single-digit percentages in previous years.
The analysts stated: “We believe China’s biotechs are reshaping the US biopharma landscape, as in-licensing assets from China could offer multinational corporations a remedy to alleviate pressure affordably and within a manageable time frame.”
Evaluate’s recently published 2025 World Preview predicted this could rise still further to reach 40% by the end of this year.
The table below shows the top 10 companies by biggest share price gains during the period, and provides a snapshot of the key catalysts that drove up those valuations.
Company
HQ
Market Cap (converted to USD)
Share Price Change
Key Catalysts
3SBio
China
$7.4bn
300%
PD-1/VEGF bispecific deal with Pfizer, May 19
Innovent
$16.8bn
120%
Positive readouts from oncology and obesity assets
Caliway Biopharmaceuticals
Taiwan
$6.4bn
118%
First preclinical data on CBL-514 for GLP-1 weight rebound management presented at BIO conference, June
Verona Pharma
UK
$7.6bn
103%
Growing sales for Ohtuvayre and buyout speculation - materializing in July with acquistion by Merck
Akero Therapeutics
US
$4.1bn
91%
Positive Phase II data in MASH for efruxifermin
Soleno Therapeutics
$4.3bn
86%
US approval of Vykat in hyperphagia in Prader-Willi Syndrome in March
Peptron
Korea
$3.0bn
84%
Investors reassured that company's long-acting obesity teach collaboration with Eli Lilly is progressing
Grand Pharma
$4.0bn
81%
May: Success for sepsis candidate STC3141 in Phase II study in China
Jiangsu Hansoh
$2.3bn
77%
May: Successful IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange
Ascentage
$3.5bn
73%
Phase I/II data presented at ASCO in June shows lisaftoclax potential in myeloid malignancies
Source: Evaluate Pharma. Share price change is between YE24 and June 30, 2025
Part of the appeal of Chinese company assets is their speed of development.
In at number one is 3SBio, which in recent years has branched out from its biosimilar base to develop novel antibody-based drugs.
It struck its biggest ever licensing deal in May when Pfizer agreed to acquire ex-China rights its PD-1 x VEGF bispecific antibody, SSGJ-707. The deal involved a $1.25bn upfront payment, with up to $4.8bn in milestones, plus double-digit tiered royalties on net sales. SSGJ-707 is a fast follower of Akeso and Summit’s PD-1 x VEGF trailblazer, ivonescimab, which may prove to be more clinically effective than Merck & Co’s all-conquering PD-1 inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab).
Investors were also reassured by Pfizer’s bet when Phase II data from SSGJ-707 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were presented in a poster at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, IL, which suggested comparable efficacy to ivonescimab.
Part of the appeal of Chinese company assets is their speed of development: in June, 3SBio launched a China-based Phase III study pitting its asset head-to-head against Keytruda, which it expects to reach primary completion by July 2026.
The company with the biggest market cap on the list was another up-and-coming Chinese firm, Innovent. It started the year by signing a licensing deal with Roche for IBI3009, its novel DLL3-targeted ADC candidate in small cell lung cancer, starting with an $80m upfront fee but worth up to $1bn. Innovent also has in its in-house pipeline, IBI363, a first-in-class anti-PD-1/IL-2α-bias bispecific to challenge in the next-generation immuno-oncology field.
It is also making strides with building its own domestic commercial footprint. It achieved a notable milestone in June when it gained marketing approval in China for mazdutide, the first dual glucagon (GCG)/glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist treatment for obesity approved anywhere in the world. The therapy was developed by Eli Lilly, which holds ex-China rights, but Innovent has a chance to build a major market in China, though expectations of the obesity treatment market are more limited than the US. Evaluate currently forecasts the therapy could hit global sales of $1.3bn by 2030.
The top ten list also features a handful of US and UK-based companies which struck gold during the first half of the year. These include Akero, which became the first to show fibrosis improvement in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) with its FGF21 analog candidate, efruxifermin.
Meanwhile, Soleno was rewarded by investors when it exceeded expectations with the US launch of Vykat (diazoxide choline) for hyperphagia in Prader-Willi Syndrome.
Finally, Verona Pharma’s hugely successful launch of its COPD therapy Ohtuvayre (ensifentrine) did not go unnoticed, and its share price rose steeply during the period, culminating in its $10bn buyout by Merck & Co. in July.
